Building Inclusive Classrooms: How this Culturally Responsive Teaching Framework Transforms Education

Research shows that 68% of new teachers feel unprepared to address the cultural needs of their students effectively.

Leveraging Edthena’s Video Coaching platform, Dr. Adrian Cortes and Dr. Bryan Carter have developed a practical, research-based framework that addresses this challenge, significantly impacting teachers’ self-awareness of culturally responsive teaching practices.

Adrian and Brian reviewed their research, the framework, and how teachers can access it during the AACTE Annual Conference. Click below to view the presentation or keep reading for key takeaways.

Achieving significant impact with this culturally responsive teaching framework

The culturally responsive teaching framework, developed through years of research at City University of Seattle, leverages Edthena’s Video Coaching platform and peer feedback to increase teachers’ self-awareness and improve their teaching practices.

It has led to three significant impacts on culturally responsive and general teaching practices:

• Improved self-awareness: Teachers became more aware of their cultural responsiveness and adjusted their methods accordingly.
• Embedding culturally responsive teaching awareness into professional practice: As teachers became comfortable reflecting and focused on culturally responsive teaching practices, that analysis became embedded into their ongoing practice.
• Normalizing reflection and constructive feedback: The process helped normalize self-reflection and constructive criticism, essential skills for successful ongoing professional development.

How schools can access the Cortes and Carter Equity Sentio framework for culturally responsive teaching

While the effects are impressive, the challenge for many educators is translating the research findings from theory to practice. To close this gap, Adrian and Bryan added that the framework they created based on this research, the Cortes and Carter Equity Sentio framework, is available in Edthena’s Video Coaching platform.

With this new resource, educators and teacher training programs across the country have a simple, powerful way to help teachers feel more confident in addressing the cultural needs of their students.

The culturally responsive teaching framework is available for new and existing Edthena partners at no additional cost. Click below to see how it works.

Adrian and Bryan are eager to connect with educators who are using their culturally responsive teaching framework. (We’re happy to provide introductions.)

Improving self-awareness with online video observation and real-time peer feedback

According to Bryan and Adrian’s research, when teachers engaged in the process of video-based reflection and peer-based feedback they improved their self-awareness of their culturally responsive teaching practices.

“There was never a static result. There was always a change,” Adrian said.

Click below to hear their takeaways:

Whether teachers thought they already excelled at culturally responsive teaching or thought they had some work to do, they came out of the process with a new perspective.

“There was a strong amount of evidence that showed if they went in thinking they had a high level of ability to engage in culturally responsive teaching … it dropped after they saw their peers,” Adrian said.

“We also saw data that showed the opposite. Where (teachers) thought that their ability to deliver culturally responsive teaching was very low, once they engaged in the research and viewed videos of themselves and their peers, they came out saying ‘My ability to deliver culturally responsive teaching is that much higher (than I thought)’,” he added.

Why holistic self-awareness matters for teachers and their students

Bryan noted that it is important for teachers to consider the importance of non-verbal communication and cultural nuances in teaching.

Many teachers don’t have dedicated time for self-reflection. When they do have time, the reflection is focused on specific instructional practices rather than holistic student interactions.

“[When] we film ourselves teaching and often focus on instruction, but not on how we interact with our kids…[It’s] small nuances that can be the difference between being inclusive and exclusive,” Bryan said.

He said that students often react not to what teachers are saying but to what they’re not saying. Their body language, tone, and word choice all play a role in culturally responsive teaching.

“We oftentimes don’t think about some of those unconscious behaviors until we see it,” Bryan said. “When you see it, you really can’t unsee it. You really have to start to think about, ‘What am I going to do to evolve and change in my practice that’s going to draw students in?’” he said.

Embedding culturally responsive teaching awareness into professional practice

Another impact of the research was that when teachers prioritized feedback related to culturally responsive teaching practices, it became a consistent part of their reflective process. They began to think about it all the time, not just during special sessions focused on culturally responsive practices.

“When you normalize that behavior of being able to critique whether you’re being inclusive or exclusive, the type of tone and body language, all those pieces; when you normalize that, then it becomes part of professional practice,” he said.

Normalizing self-reflection and peer-based feedback for teachers

A third impact of the research and the resulting model was that it helped teachers be more accepting of self-reflection and constructive feedback across the board.

“Part of this training is to teach us to become more vulnerable to self-identify, to be able to step out … to learn when we make mistakes and be able to accept that and to be able to say, ‘Yeah, I didn’t do that right,’” Bryan said.

How the culturally responsive teaching research was conducted

Participants from City University’s teacher prep program engaged in a three-step process that included pre and post-surveys, video reflection, and peer feedback.

This structured process helped teachers identify and address cultural inclusivity issues in their teaching practices.

Pre and post-surveys

Teachers self-evaluated their culturally responsive teaching skills before and after the reflective process. Some of the questions they responded to included:

• Do you think you manage your own social-emotional response to student diversity in the classroom well?
• Do you think you provide feedback in emotionally intelligent ways so students are able to take it in and act on it?
• Do you think you provide ways to orchestrate learning so it builds students’ brain power in culturally congruent ways?
• Do you think you provide ways for your students to understand both your verbal and nonverbal communication effectively and accurately?
• Do you think you set up rituals and routines that reinforce self-directed learning and academic integrity?
• Do you feel you are properly prepared as a new teacher to foster culturally responsive teaching in the classroom?

Recording classroom interactions, self-reflection, and peer feedback

Using Edthena’s Video Coaching platform teachers filmed and uploaded their classroom interactions for reflection.

Participants reviewed and discussed their videos with peers online and in person. Within Edthena’s Video Coaching platform, they added time-stamped comments and tied each comment to specific indicators related to culturally relevant practices. This allowed them to provide specific, evidence-based feedback to guide peer reflection.

“By tagging comments to specific indicators within Edthena, teachers can see exactly where they need to improve and how to make their teaching more inclusive,” Adrian said.

As part of the peer feedback process, teachers also gathered in person and answered questions related to bias, assumptions, communication style, listening skills, and more.

Some of the questions included:

• Is the teacher providing a safe place for people who have been historically marginalized people to speak out?
• To what extent does race, gender, sexuality, ability, or class impact instructional delivery in the classroom?
• To what extent do you see bias and assumptions in the communication between the teacher and students? Consider verbal and non-verbal cues.
• How do students react to the teacher’s communication style and language?
• Is the teacher listening to people whose identities and experiences differ from their own?
• Do all the students hear and react the same to what the teacher communicates, both verbally and non-verbally?

Embracing reflective practice for inclusive teaching

The culturally responsive teaching framework developed by Adrian and Brian offers a powerful tool for improving teaching through reflective practice.

By integrating Edthena’s video coaching tools and peer feedback, this approach helps new teachers bridge the gap between theory and practice, ultimately fostering more inclusive and effective teaching practices.

Adrian and Brian’s framework is available in Edthena’s Video Coaching platform at no cost to new and existing partners. If you are thinking about how to improve your school’s approach to culturally responsive teaching we’d love to help.

Contact us today to get started!